My kids are completely addicted to Minecraft. They can hardly start a sentence without the phrase, "In Minecraft". What? Yours too? But I have to say, this completely defies my expectations of what kinds of video games boys would want to play. So I've been trying to get an understanding of this phenomenon through a combination of deep contemplation and annoying my children with incessant questions.
Minecraft is a a video game in which you build things from different types of virtual blocks. There are different modes of play, but my kids seem to prefer the "creative mode" where you just build things. There is no shooting, no racing, no discovering hidden secrets, no need for other people really (unless you want them). There's also no winning and no dying. There isn't even much of an objective, aside from one you decide upon yourself. My 11 year old son built a replica of his grandparent's house, for example. He and his brother also built houses for each other, which is probably a natural response to having to share a room in their real house.
So why is this so much fun? I mean what's so satisfying about building virtual structures for hours and hours?
I asked my 7 year old son.
He said that you can build whatever you want, and nothing costs money! In fact, there is no money!
Ok, so now I'm interested. And I must admit, I love the idea of building my ideal house without having to buy the land or the materials, or having to hire people, or get plans approved by the city…. sounds pretty great actually.
My 11 year old also talks about the game giving him a sense of freedom. Freedom from parents? From school? Freedom from physics? I also think it gives him a taste of Independence, in a world all his own ---- A world he created and controls.
He also talks about making things perfect.
There's something intensely satisfying about perfecting one's environment. Making things around us just so. But building a house is so bound up in thoughts of money, that we forget how basic our need is for not just shelter, but also aesthetic and functional pleasures. And building a house is also not just about impressing the neighbors. It's about perfectly accommodating your needs and exerting control over your surroundings.
When I was a kid, I loved playing Monopoly (of course). So I'm wondering, is Minecraft the anti-Monopoly? I mean maybe I'm reading a lot into this, but I'm starting to wonder whether we are now discovering, through the Minecraft experience, that buying and developing property and then trying to use it to bankrupt our opponents (read: friends), is just ever so slightly less satisfying psychologically than something simple, like building your ideal house for free.
In Monopoly you win by buying more and more expensive property, so that the other players eventually can no longer afford to rent. I always loved those little red hotels, but I have to say, it's not that much fun to see your kid in tears across the table from you because you took all his money and he lost. Most of us probably don't just want to make money in order to find ways to make others miserable. So I say go ahead, let your child play endless hours of Minecraft; enable his addiction. Because it might be better to raise a person who doesn't care that much about beating others, but is in touch with that deep inner yearning to live in a perfect house.
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